Stargate: Apocalypse
by Themightytom
Summary: Continues the crossover universe of Adventures of Starbuck and Pandora's Bottle. Features old bsg, new bsg, an alternate SG:1, and some characters from the SW universe. i didn't create any of the universes and don't claim any rights to anything I write.
1. Chapter 1

Allies Part I

"This city is old." Fred announced as he stepped onto a balcony overlooking the murky hefty Baselesk probd the air with his sensory whiskers experiemtnally, placingtwo hands upon the cold, ancient rail before him. Luminescent fungi, growing on the roof of the cavern and down the stalactites far over head were the only light. Fred dragged a third arm across his fore head while waving a scanner about with his fourth.

Colonel Jack O'Neill, garbed in worn, nearly thread bear fatigues was incredulous. "Really? You think?"

"Cute." Said Fred dismissively, "But clearly the context is crucial here Jack, try to stay with me here. Atlantis was old relative to our understanding of time. She was hundreds of thousands of years old, if not millions. She wasn't old, however, she was still in her prime. This.." he gestured to the dark shapes around them, "Is_old_. This city is well past it's prime. A lot of the systems have entered that stage of failure where you spend as much time fixing them as they do working."

"Much like yourself O'Neill.:" Teal'c said helpfully, earning an immediately betrayed look.

"Hey, it's not the years, it's the mileage." O'Neill objected.

"Indeed. For I possess more years than you." Said Teal'c "And yet among my people I am still young."

"Yeah well you cheat." O'Neill shot back, "You have that snake in you keeping you young. I've got… AARP…"

"My point being that we may not want to put a lot of work into reactivating the city." Fred continued, "We've managed to bring secondary power for the administrative building online periodically, but we've had to cannibalize components from other systems to do it. To bring the city as a whole back online, or even enough to say, activate the main database, we'd need an army."

"Well, if you could just dial Earth, we'd have one." O'Neill said as though the answer were obvious.

"Jack, the Stargate here, looked weird." Fred stated, "It shot steam, ok? It isn't made of Naquidah, I'm not entirely sure it is capable of dialing Earth in the first place, even if we could safely bring main power online, which we can't. Sam and I looked over the power center, and it's not those neat little ZPM's we had on Atlantis. It looks like it was initially some kind of enhanced fusion derivative, which has since been decommissioned and converted into a geothermal energy tap. Have you ever worked with geothermal energy Jack, Even the most advanced materials will degrade over time, and this city is very, very old."

"So, we'll use the gate on Kobol." Jack replied as though there were no problem. "It's much newer isn't it?"

"Jack you're not listening, the gate on Kobol is newer but lacks power." Fred began but Jack cut him off.

"So we scavenge." He said exasperated. "The probes we sent through the other gates showed an advanced civilization that spanned several worlds."

"Which was in the process of being exterminated." Fred pointed out, "We don't know who they are or who they are at war with, do you really want to just gate into the middle of that?" Jack looked at Teal'c and back at Fred.

"Well it looks like somebody has to." Jack said, "We'll start with that city one, what was it called Paprika?"

"The translation said "Caprica." Teal'c rumbled.

"Caprica." Jack corrected himself. "A small three man advance, myself, Teal'c and Roda. We'll leave you Fola and Sam the jumper, since the gate iseems to be indoors anyway. We'll scout around and figure out what's happening. Carter said it was probably safe."

"That city was hit with a neutron bomb." Fred replied, "That kind of weapon causes high casualties, while preserving infrastructure. Sam meant "Safe" as in "No longer lethally radioactive, and there's bound to be some sort of ighting still going on."

"When such a weapon is deployed, it's masters usually intend to return." Teal'c observed.

"Then we'd better move out." O'Neill remarked, "And get there before they do."

The Stargate swooshed as it's event horizon formed, and moments later Jack stepped out, followed by Teal'c, O'Neill and Teal'c swept the room,Jjack with his p90, Teal'c with his, both had zats strapped to their legs, but Teal'c had his staff weapon strapped to his back. "Clear." Jack spoke one word into his radio and then began to move forward. A young man, around fifteen years of age stepped through. He did not carry a heavy weapon, as jack and Teal'c did, but rather held a long metal cylinder in his hand. A Zat nickatell was tucked inside the brown robes he wore over lighter brown garments. Finally a fourth persons tepped through. Doctor Samantah carter held her weapon at ready, but to jack's critical eye, she lacked confidene. He had trained her over the past several months but she was still far from seasoned.

The four were in a long hallway with double doors at each end and tall glass windows high overhead. The Stargate was on one side of the hallway, the DHD was ina glass display case on the other side. Shattered glass on the floor marked where the case around the Stargate had been damaged first by the emerging wormhole, and next by the probe rolling out of it.

"Look sharp." Jack warned, "You two stay here, while Teal'c and I secure this room. Carter check out the DHD." He motioned with his head. The DHD was encased in a glass display to one side.

"it's alarmed, but with power down, we should be able to open it." Carter said inspecting the case as she and Roda approached it. Roda ignited his light saber and cut through the glass. "We should take the control crystal out of it, to prevent anyone else from using it. We can use the remote we brought with us to dial home."

"Fine whatever." Jack snapped. She shot him an annoyed look. "Let's just make this quick." He hissed moving off.

"he's not happy about having you here." Roda observed.

"Did your jedi instincts tell you that?" Sam asked irritably.

"I heard you shouting from the gateroom." Roda explained sheepishly, "But the force does tell me that Jack cares very much for you."

"I know." Sam said softening slightly, "He's just so… overbearing."

"He wants to protect you Sam." Roda said as he peered at a plaque beneath the Stargate, "I sense the turmoil in him even now, it clouds his mind…" he looked up suddenly, "Somethings wrong."

"Carter!" O'Neill hurried back into the room to join her. "You get that crystal?" She held it up to assure him, he snatched it putting it in his pocket. He turned and made for the door." dial the gate, we're about to have company."

"I thought this place was deserted!" Carter protested. She pulled the remote out of her pocket and began dialing. The Stargate lit up.

"Yup, that was wrong." O'Neill stated, "Time to go…"

"Hold it!" A woman cried out. At the far side of the room a door had opened and men with guns were advancing. They froze at the door when they saw O'Neill swing his gun around, and took cover behind the frame. The woman's voice came from the door Jack had just left. Teal'c maintained position on one side of the door that was closed while the woman approached the one that was open. "Stand down, all of you, we mean you no harm."

Jack had hauled Sam down behind the DHD, Roda had stood before them unlit lightsaber in hand, but making no hostile moves. Jack glanced at Sam and then back at the woman, who had stopped at the door. She was unarmed, and Jack noticed she was wearing a skirt, which he surmised was not military garb. Her clothes were worn and tattered.

"Great." He called back, "We hate being harmed."

"Who are you, how did you get in here?" the woman asked."Are you Colonial Warriors?"

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing." Jack called back, "We didn't see anyone here last time we checked." Then he paused, "What's a colonial warrior?"

"We were taking shelter in the museum's basement." The woman replied, "it was the only place in the city we could escape the radiation from the bombs."

"Ah." Jack turned to Sam, "You didn't check the basement?"

"Have you ever tried to pilot an R-2 unit down a flight of stairs?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Crap." Jack hissed. "Uh miss, since you mean us no harm, could you have your men stop pointing guns at us?"

"How do we know you aren't Cylons?" The woman demanded.

"How would you know we are?" Jack countered, he turned to Sam, his brow furrowing, "Cylons? Aren't those the robots Starbuck was always on about? Sam nodded.

"Uh miss?" he started again, "Why do you think we are robots?"

"We've seen humans leading the centurions out in the city." The woman replied, "At first we thought it was simply human collaborators, than we realized all the women looked the same."

"Ah," Said Jack, "Well I hope she was a looker." Sam jabbed him. He gave a chagrined look at Sam, "You know, for the Cylon guys. I have a lady myself." Sam rolled her eyes, and Roda looked beseechingly at the heavans.

"Why don't you come out, you are obviously not a threat, my men won't hurt you." The woman suggested, there was amusement in her voice.

"Why don't you come in? We won't harm you." Roda suggested, still standing out in the open.

"Why don't I come in, I don't think you're going to harm me." The woman replied. She took several steps into the room, and then paused as if realizing what she had done. Teal'c closed the door behind her and she whirled, "What…"

"Guns down Ziggy." Jack called, "Nobody has to get hurt." There was still the matter of the men covering the opposite door, one of whom had raised his pistol to cover Gianna. With a wave of his hand, Roda shut the door using the force, and a statue fell across it.

"Or.. that." Said Jack, he turned to Roda, "They will inevitably find a way in if they want to. Carter start dialing. He turned to the woman. "What's your name?" he asked, noticing that she was trembling.

"Gianna, Gianna Artois." She answered. She lifted her chin, "You're not warriors."

"Indeed we are." Said Teal'c, taking umbrage, but Roda raised his hands.

"Um Teal'c hold on a minute." He turned to Gianna, "You said Colonial warriors before, didn't you?" She nodded, Roda turned back to Jack, "That was the name of the military that built the battlestar Pegasus originally, for the twelve tribes of man to fight the Cylons."

"Yeah she mentioned them too." Jack replied. Behind them the gate swooshed open. Carter moved towards it, Jack put up a hand, "Hold on a minute Sam."

"You are survivors of the attack by the Cylons?" Roda guessed, the woman nodded. "Are you all civilians?" She nodded again. He turned, "Jack we can't just leave them here, the cylons are coming back here eventually."

"The radiation levels are safe for a few hours, but they would still be lethal over time." Sam pointed out, "Even if the Cylons didn't find them…"

"Our food supplies are running low." Gianna interjected, "We've had to scavenge. The radiation levels are too high in the areas around the city for us to leave." Jack pressed his lips together. "Is that some sort of portal? Is that how you got in here?"

"O'Neill, if they have determined what the Chappa'Ai is, we should not leave them behind." Teal'c warned, "If they were to tell the Cylons they may be able to discern it's function…"

"..and figure out where we are before we figure out how to get somewhere else." Jack sighed, "How many people are with you." He asked.

"There are fourteen adults and eight children." Gianna said hopefully.

"Armed?" O'Neill asked, Gianna nodded, "Some are." The door behind Teal'c started to open slowly. He slammed it shut with a hand."Just a second." O'Neill called, he turned back to Gianna, "Do you know how close these Cylons are?"

"We've seen them moving around the city." Gianna replied, "The Cylons have been moving systematically…col..collect bodies.." She swallowed, "The humans directing them are some distance off."

"Alright tell your people we'll help them/" O'Neill ordered. He grabbed his radio as Gianna moved to the door and Teal'c stepped obligingly aside. "Fred, Fola, this is O'Neill."

"Fred here, Colonel, what's your situation?" Fred asked, "We weren't expecting you to dial in so soon, so we have the shield up, but we're getting an override signal."

"Well lower it?" Jack demanded sounding horrified. "I don't want to go splat. Listen we've run into some refugees here. There should be fourteen adults, eight children, some of them armed. I want you and Fola to evacuate the gate room and seal it off. We'll collect their weapons and figure out what to do when they arrive." He turned to Gianna, "Just, until we know we can trust you."

"Where do you intend to take us?" A man demanded coming up behind Gianna.

"Easy Brett." Gianna warned him, "These people came through this artifact, it's some kind of portal. They are going to take us with them."

"Gianna are you mad? We have no idea who these people are, they could be working for the Cylons!" Another man said aghast.

"If the Cylons had known of the Chappa Ai, they would have used it to deliver a weapon." Teal'c pointed out, "Or soldiers."

"It's your call Ziggy," Said O'Neill, "We don't mean you any harm, but the guys who nuked your city, they probably do."

"My name is Gordon." The man asserted, "Who's this Ziggy fellow?"

"It's just a nickname." Carter said clearing her throat and casting a glance at Jack, "Look we really can help if you let us…"

Gianna was nodding. She moved closer to Brett.

"Do you know what that object is?" She asked. Brett shrugged, "It is an artifact that predates the colonies, one of the artifacts that sparked the ancient war with Gememnon. It is called Kobol's gate." His eyes widened, "We don't have much time here, and there will be time for questions later, but we can't stay here."

"We shouldn't surrender our weapons." Brett said resolutely, "Gordon's right, we don't know these people."

"Keep 'em." Said Jack surprising himself, "We're not letting you out of the gate room with them, but maybe we'll have a chance to compare notes."

"Have the men gather whatever food and supplies we have." Gianna told Brett. "I will step through first with Donald and Justin, and radio back if all is safe." She held up a small back radio.

"We came here on a mission of our own." O'Neill informed her, "We're a little low on supplies ourself,"

"We will share whatever we have gathered in exchange for freedom and safety." Gianna replied, "This is the art of negotiation Colonel, both sides must have something to offer and something must be exchanged to create trust."

"Okay hold on a second." Jack said suspiciously, "Now you sound like Daniel used to, what exactly do you do here?"

"I am the leader, at the moment of these survivors." Gianna replied, "because I am on the city council as the minister of arts. Before that I was the curator of this museum."

"An archaeologist." Sam inferred. Gianna nodded. Jack shook his head.

"Every time we find a Stargate, there's an archaeologist standing next to it." he commented, "Alright let's get moving here, I might want to have children some day and this radiation probably isn't helping."

"… And the first we heard of the Cylons since their rebellion was when bombs started exploding in the sky." Gianna said folding her hands at the table, "There was little time to do anything but get to the basement. We had an emergency generator that lasted for days, but all we could do was watch as our colonies were eliminated." She rubbed her eyes, "It was over in a day."

"The Cylons must have vastly outmatched your forces." Teal'c said into the silence. Theyw ere seated around the conference table overlooking the gate room. Gianna's people had set up a camp below and were organizing the supplies they had brought through the gate. Jack had ordered Fola and Fred to wait in the control room out of sight for the time being, and Gianna had been allowed out of the gate room to speak with them.

"They used some kind of computer virus to cripple our forces." Gianna reported, "Please, I've answered your questions, now answer some of mine, who are you, what is this place."

"We're from a planet called Earth." Jack said, then amended, "Well Sam and I are, Teal'c here is from a planet called "Chulak"" Teal'c bowed.

"Earth…." Gianna leaned back, "There are legends spoke of it, the world the 13th tribe travelled to escape the blaze on Kobol…" She looked at Teal'c "Chulak, is that a colony of Earth?"

"in a manner of speaking." Teal'c said darkly, "Thousands of years ago Earth was visited by a race of parasites posing as Gods. They enslaved my ancestors and my people for thousands of years to incubate their young, fight their wars, and serve them."

Gianna's mouth dropped, "incubate their… that's horrific."

"See? That's what I've been saying." O'Neill exclaimed, "Guys got a snake in his gut and he acts like it's giving him superpowers!" he turned to Gianna before Teal'c could reply. "If you think that's weird though, there's probably a few other things we should tell you, now, your people haven't encountered a lot of nonhumans have you." Gianna shook her head. Jack rolled his eyes. "Oy." He said, "Carter better bring in Fred and Fola, let's get this over with."

"Hey, kid." Brett sauntered over to where Roda sat cross legged before the door, "How long are we going to be cooped up like this?" Roda opened his eyes.

"Just until Colonel O'Neill has had a chance to talk to your leader." He assured him, "The situation is, complex, we don't want any misunderstandings."

"Well some of us don't like being treated as prisoners." Brett replied, "We have a right to be treated fairly."

"You are already benefitting from your removal from that radioactive world." Roda pointed out, "We are simply asking that you be patient while our leaders reach an understanding."

"Look kid." Brett said taking a step forward, "I don't want to be rude, or ungrateful, but I just took a step through a portal that scrambled my insides. Frankly, If I don't find a bathroom we're gonna have a mess on our hands, and again no offense, but you aren't going to stop me from looking. Just get out of the way alright?"

"There is a force field protecting the door." Roda informed him, "Even if you could open it you couldn't go anywhere."

"Well then lower the forcefield." Brett said drawing his pointed it at Roda.

"Brett, what are you doing." Another man hurried over, Justin, if Roda recalled correctly.

"Look they left a kid to guard us." Said Brett, "That tells me they are short handed. Now he's got that pistol thingy on his hip, but otherwise he's unarmed. I say we take him prisoner, make him cooperate, and take charge of this… wherever we are."

"You are in the gateroom of a very very old city." Roda informed him calmly, "Nothing here is exactly what it seems which is why this place can be very dangerous if you don't calm down. You _could_ go searching for a fresher, and end up teleporting yourself into a room full of lava."

"Oh now there's teleporters? I don't have time for these fairy tales." Brett said, "You say there's a force field, prove it, open the door."

"Very well I shall demonstrate." Roda decided. He nodded towards Brett's pistol and it jerked from his hand and spun in the air. It hovered in front of him pointed at his face. Brett stumbled back, Justin put his hand on his own gun but froze, unsure of what he was seeing..

"What is this?" Brett demanded, "What's going on?"

"Exactly as I told you." Roda replied, "Things are not as they seem. I am not 'just' a boy left to guard you, I am a Jedi. I wield a force you cannot yet understand. I am the least of the oddities you will encounter in this city, and it is imperative that you understand how carefully you must proceed." The gun spun again facing down and floated into Brett's hands. "If you master your fear, there is power before you greater than anything you have ever dreamed, not the power to simply destroy your enemies, but the power to protect your people."

Brett considered Roda's words. "Can you teach me to use this power that you have?" he asked suddenly, "Can anyone do this?" Roda shook his head.

"not anyone." He replied, "In my galaxy the talent is exceedingly rare, only a handful among billions. Yet I sense that the Force is with you Brett, and you, Justin." He nodded to the other man, "There may be something about your people that gives you an affinity for it." he looked down, "But I cannot teach you to harness it. My order has been all but destroyed because we trained one who should not have been trained. I dare not attempt it myself."

"But you must." Justin stepped forward, "The Cylons will destroy us, have destroyed us, we need to fight back!"

"The Force is not the only power this city has to offer." Roda pointed out, "There is knowledge, there are allies, powerful allies."

"You are from another galaxy?' Justin said, remembering something else Roda had said, "Scientists theorized there might be life elsewhere but human? From another galaxy?" At that moment the door slid open to admit Gianna. Jack stood beside her. He noted the gun held in Brett's hand and raised an eyebrow.

"Gianna!" Justin said relieved, "We were worried about you."

"I am fine," Said Gianna, though she looked shaken. "There is much to talk about, there are things I must warn you all of, that are frankly, unnerving." She cast an apologetic smile abck at Jack, "But I am confident that we are among friends."

"Before we talk…" Brett asked fidgeting, "Seriously, can someone direct me to a bathroom?" Gianna gave him a pitying look. "Our friends have chosen to reveal a most unsettling truth about themselves." She announced to the group, "There are aliens among them, who are not at all human, prepare yourselves. The group looked at eachother as Gianna stepped slowly from the doorway and gestured.

The final member of Jack's team entered the room. Only three feet tall, he hovered at face level, spindly arms and legs, and a bulbous belly hung suspended in the air, while large intelligent eyes regarded them quietly. "This is Fola, he's a… Toydarian?" Gianna looked to Fola for confirmation.

"Excellent pronunciation." The toydarian said approvingly.

"And this is Fred, he is a… Beselesk." The group drew back as the tall figure stepped carefully into the room.

"Hi there.' Said Fred waving with all four arms.

"mever mind about the bathroom…" Brett breathed in astonishment.


	2. Chapter 2

Allies Part 2

"Alright Justin dial her up." O'Neill called, Justin nodded nervously from the booth, starting suddenly at Fred's massive hand reaching over the man's shoulder to point at something on the console. Jack privately believed that Fred was deliberately waving his massive hands around the man's face as a way of teasing him, an unsettling reminder that the man knew nothing of the world he had just found himself in. Jack considered briefly that this might be a cruel and dangerous game to play with the traumatized victim of a holocaust, but ultimately decided that there was a method to Fred's actions. Fred seemed a good judge of character, he had certainly pushed Jack to the edge many times, but had always stopped before Jack had was a nice guy, and enjoyed pestering people as much as Jack did to a purpose, Jack nodded to himself, as he acknowledged a kindred spirit. He decided he liked Fred's style and decided to throw a few digs in of his own. "Hey Justin," he called, the man looked up from the console. "Make sure you hit the right button, some of these things lead to death traps, the wrong address could kill us all."

"Jack…" Carter admonished from beside him, "Leave the guy alone, he's a nervous wreck."

"Him? He's not walking through this death trap." Jack was all wounded innocence, "Didn't SG-1 tell us one of their gate addresses lead to a black hole?"

"Different galaxy Jack." Sam assured him, though her eyes moved furtively towards the gate.

"Ah." Said Jack, "well, you can't be too careful." Carter nodded, resigned.

"Take care of yourself Jack, get home in time for dinner." She whispered hugging him. It had become a running joke between the two during the times food had been scarce.

"Always." He assured her. He held her by the shoulders and looked at her. "hey, we've got to do this, but I always come back right?"She nodded, "You keep an eye on thing here while I'm gone. The others will listen to you. Put the newbies to work, but keep an eye on them."

"They have a more advanced understanding of technology than we do." Sam assured him, "They know enough not to…"

"Ah." Jack put a finger up, "Never assume. I haven't met all of them but so far we have a museum curator, a bus driver, a rent-a cop, and a stay at home mom. Maybe their a little more advanced, " he measured the space between thumb and forefinger there was not much. "But let's not confuse the crew of the Enterprise with the Jetsons." Carter nodded.

"Point taken." She replied. The final chevron locked on the gate and it opened with a swoosh. Gianna and Brett swallowed visibly. Teal'c and Roda looked impassive."Relax Brett, third time's a charm." O'Neill assured him."Alright everyone, listen up." Fred and Justin waited attentively in the booth above. Dr. Carter and the civilians gathered in the back of the gate room paused what they were doing. The team gathered before the gate turned to face him."When you came here, we made a stop, along the way. As Gianna tells it, that was a world named Kobol. We will be returning there, and setting up a base camp from which we can begin start rescuing survivors of the attacks. Carter ?" Dr, Carter stepped forward, she was uncertain as to where she would be facing, so she turned awkwardly first to Fred and Justin, and then to the group before the gate.

"We hope to use Kobol as a staging point from which to rescue survivors." She announced her voice gaining both volume and confidence as she explained, "Jack, Roda and Teal'c, as well as Brett and Gianna, will take a jumper through to Kobol. We have identified seven stargates that are operational on worlds your people colonized. One of them we know to be on Caprica, at the moment we still aren't sure if the city we are standing in is buried on Gemmenon, or Picon, but we do know that it is one of the two. Now, because your colonies are spread out over four conjoined stellar systems… "

"Carter…" Jack sighed making a motion to hurry up with his hands, Carter hurried onward.

"Most of the gates are too close to each other to dial directly," She said hurriedly, Jack made a show of massaging his temples, until he noticed the rest of the audience nodding along in understanding. _Nuts_, he thought, _Even Teal'c gets this stuff better than me._ _Last year the guy didn't even wear pants_. The Jaffa's head swieveled sharply towards him and Jack's head shot back around to Carter, who was finishing. " So until we've refined Fred's program, we will need to use Kobol as an intermediate destination in order to dial any of your other colonies."

"We will be scouting out the operational gates, and looking for survivors." Jack announced, "After we have screened them to make sure they aren't Cylons, we will bring non combatants to this city for evacuation. This means this city will have to be able to support them. I am asking you in our absence to work with Dr. Carter, Fred and Fola to get this place ready to take refugees." He took a breath, "None of us asked to be here, the cylons sucker punched you all, my people and I just have a knack for getting into trouble." It was a weak attempt at humor, but it was well received he could see. "We're not just going to leave you all to your fate, that's not our way. I don't know much about your people, but from what I've seen, I don't think it's your way either."

"What about Earth?" one of the women in the back asked, she clutched a toddler's hand tightly, "Why can't we just go there?"

"We don't know how to dial that far." Sam said apologetically, "Maybe, if we can bring the city's power grid online, we could draw enough power from the core of the planet, but that could take weeks, months even."

"There are people out there dying, right now." Jack broke in, "We can_not_ afford to wait. Our job will be to set up a staging ground on Kobol, your's will be to get us all out of this, by giving us a way to Earth, but make no mistake people, we can't do this on our own. The survivors we bring back will be put to work as soon as they are able, to bring this place back to life. I'm taking Gianna and Brett with us, so that they will be met by a friendly face. We've all got… a_ ridiculous_ amount of work to do, let's get to it."

"What about food?" Someone shouted, "We don't have much left."

"We can forage on Kobol." Jack replied, "And grab anything we find on the way. Carter tells me there's a greenhouse?"

"hydroponics building." Carter explained, "It's in the second ring, we've got a lot of ground to cover before we reach that."

"So we've got options." Jack said nodding, "For now though, we need to get to work."

"So say we all." Gianna said, stepping forward, and startling Jack. The men and women echoed her response. She leaned to Jack, "Our religious texts conclude with that phrase, it has come to mean acceptance, commitment…"

"So be it? Amen?" Jack asked, "Alrighty then?" Gianna nodded, "Great, then let's move out, everyone into the Jumper," he glanced at the crowd behind him, muttering, "before our first mission briefing turns into a damn town hall meeting…"

"Their itinerary calls for attempting to dial the gates we believe are on Arelon, Sagitaron, and Virgon first." Fred stated to Sam as she entered the control room. "They'll do check ins after each dial up to relay the probe data/" He nudged Justin, "See how we do that, restate what we all know? It's not unnecessary plot exposition, it's about acknowledging authority, showing respect… why are you not writing this down? I'm kidding, but… wait let me see that…" He held up a pocket notebook Justin had produced, "What the hells with all these corners, how do you stand it up on a shelf?"

"I have managed to establish an interface with the dialing computer in this building." Fola said speaking over the distractions both figuratively, and literally. Carter looked up startled. He was perched in the ceiling of the high room, working at an open panel. "We will not have to route the data through the time jumper's systems when they next dial in." Carter nodded in acknowledgement, and took a deep breath. She decided it was time to say something commanding, inspiring, she opened her mouth.

"Amazing!" Carter said brightly, then kicked herself. She moved to stand beside Justin's chair the opposite side of Fred. She made a show of surveying the gate room and nodded to herself with satisfaction, as she had seen Jack do_. Let them guess at my in monologue_. She told herself. _Am I gripping the inside of my cufs again, come on Doctor get it together!_ Justin, had looked questioningly at her. Aware that she was gripping the insides of her cuffs she forced herself to relax. _Look leaderly_. she screamed to herself, and made an effort to stand up straighter.

"ummm is something wrong with your back Doctor?" Justin asked looking away. Sam realized to her mortification that in straightening her posture, she had inadvertently thrust her bosom into Justin's face. She stumbled hurriedly around Fred's bulk and made a show of peering over his shoulder. She spotted something worthy of comment.

"You've managed to restore power to the to eleven floors of this building." She patted Fred's broad shoulders, "Nice job!"

"Not all of them." Fola replied from above, "Just the interior sections, I still can't find the fault in the hallway circuits. I was hoping we could assemble a pair of three man teams to inspect them one by one."

"We can get volunteers for that, but we should each lead a group," Carter decided, she did her best to sound like Jack, "Fred you and I can do that."

"With respect Doctor," Fola pointed out, "Fred and I have much more experience with this sort of repair work, whereas you are much better both at reading ancient, and operating gate systems. Perhaps you should coordinate from here while we lead the teams."

"Do you think the colonials will be uncomfortable around non humanoids though?" Carter asked anxiously.

"They definitely will." Said Justin, casting Fred an apologetic glance, "But they've got to get over it, and working together is as good a way as any to do that."

"Alright, then, just keep in radio contact." Sam cautioned Fola, "Even if you're just a few floors away, we should stay in touch." She nodded to Justin, "You know these people better than us, who do you think we should ask to volunteer?"

"Toby and Eliza work maintenance, they'll be at least mechanically minded. Susan is a math teacher…" Justin considered, " I don't know, Greg maybe? He was a history major, maybe he would want a chance to look around."

"Not…Gordon?" Sam said, it was the only name she could think of, but she thought it important to demonstrate at least that level of familiarity.

"Gordon's a bus driver," Justin said, "He's really good with the kids, but he doesn't seem particularly fond of technology."

"Fola, you take Toby and Greg." Carter suggested, Fred can take Susan and Eliza. "

"They will warm up to a big four armed teddy bear easier than to a floating toady insect thing, no offense." Justin added hastily.

"None taken, you are all shapeless pudgy meat sacks to me." Fola said equitably.

"Alright Justin, would you make the announcement?" Carter asked, "Then we can start going over the gate diagnostic protocols, just the basic ones." She assured him, at his panicked expression. As he began to do so, she felt a massive arm drape over her shoulder.

"Dr. Carter if I may…" Fred drew her to the back of the to be drawn abck out of the spotlight Carter sighed in relief, and then gave Fred a smile.

"What's up." She asked.

"Your blood pressure probably." Fred told her, winking, "A little nervous to be in charge?" Sam began to disagree and then stopped herself and nodded.

"That obvious?" She asked resigned. Fred chuckled.

"It works for you though." He told her, she cocked her head, surprised by this, Fred continued, "You're a natural leader, just like Jack, believe it or not, but for different reasons. Jack has a gift for getting people to get to the point, even if he doesn't know what it is. You…" An arm still on her shoulder, Fred held up another and pointed to her thoughtfully as he also crossed his arms, "You understand the point better than many people trying to get to it."

"How is that leadership?" Sam asked confused.

"Jack leads people to take action." Fred explained, "You lead people to understanding what action to take. Think about it." he clapped her on the shoulder. "You're a naturally likeable person Sam, you're smart, insightful and you let other people figure things out. Stick with that, and be yourself. The rest will come in time. We all respect what you have to say." Sam put a hand on the hand on hr shoulder gratefully.

"Thanks Fred, that means a lot to me." She said.

"Not a problem, by the way, you shouldn't pull on the end your sleeves, you're going to stretch the material…"

"Arelon appears largely undamaged." Roda remarked as he read the data coming back from the probe droid, he sat to Jack's right in the jumper, Teal'c sat in the position behind him.. "The population centers have residual radioactivity," he continued " but a lot of the planet was empty wasteland, the cylons are deployed mostly in the urban areas, and are for the most part ignoring vast areas of wilderness."

"The gate is located near the southern pole of the planet." Teal'c observed, "It is quite remote, we will have to travel by ship to search for any survivors." At that, Jack shook his head.

"We'll check back when the probe has had more time." He decided, "If it can locate concentrations of survivors maybe we can risk a run in or two, but I want to concentrate on getting the largest number of people through the gate as possible." He frowned unhappy at the numbers game he was playing. The four worlds they had collected probe data from were displayed on the windshield of the Jumper. Gianna had joined them in the front with Brett looking on from the back.

'Caprica is the only world with a gate located within a city." She said, she looked over the data, "The gate at the museum was the only known artifact of it's kind."

"Well what are our options here, " Jack prompted, "Where do we go first?"

"Sagittaron is more likely than Virgon." Gianna said, she pointed to the spinning globe on the screen, "See the gate is located in a cave near three major cities, and I know those mountains, there are a number of secluded monasteries in the area."

"Walking distance?' O'Neill asked, Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "I'm thinking I take Brett and we do a run over Arelon in the jumper. You, Teal'c and Roda try to scout out Sagetaron."

"Saggitarion" Gianna corrected, "It's a start, if we can recruit more people to our cause maybe we can organize more search parties. This temple is fairly sizeable." She pointed it out from among the still images spinning idly around each globe.

"We can keep them here until we figure out what to do with them." O'Neill agreed, "Just be careful, these people will be hungry, scared, hostile…"

"The Saggitarion's are deeply spiritual." Gianna clarified, "Their world was not a primary target because most of their people refused to serve in the Colonial militia and there are few military bases here."

"Well, listen to Roda." Said Jack, "He's got a sense that we don't and he's gotten out of some pretty tight situations." Color crept into Roda's face at the praise, but Jack turned to Teal'c, "While we're on Arelon, we'll take a stab at determining if the jumper can tell the difference between a human and a Cylon." Teal'c nodded. He turned back to Roda, "You okay with this?" the young Jedi nodded affirmative.

"We need to be out there." he replied, to Jack "The force echoes with the pain and suffering being inflicted on the colonies, and as a defender of justice, I need to do something about it."

"Alright than let's go." Jack nodded to Teal'c, "Dial Olympus for our check in. "

"…Fola and Fred have gotten emergency power online in the main administrative building, but only the top few floors." Carter continued, "We've got lights and ventilation now, but not much else, oh and we have the gate systems operational. Justin and I are looking through maps of the city to figure out what areas will be the highest priority. This tower seems to be designed as a central hub. We found a ring platform in the gateroom floor we can use to transport peopled directly to an infirmary on the 104th floor directly beneath us. the next three floors are some kind of reception center, above us, as you already know there's the Jumper bay and strategic operations center."

"We don't need to be up there, the city's not a spaceship." Jack commented, "What were you saying about a reception center?"

"It's a sort of temporary housing area, probably for incoming dignitaries, or maybe visitors to the city. There is a kitchen and dining area, some dormitories and.."

"Well great you find us a room with a nice view of… utter blackness." Jack interrupted, with the city lights still down, he hadn't been impressed by the view. "Is that area going to be safe for us to start moving refugees into?"

"Well our teams are still exploring, they haven't had a chance to go over them that thoroughly." Carter replied more than a little defensive, "To be honest, I think we're moving a little too fast…"

"Alright, alright, well we don't have any tenants yet, just checking out the neighborhood." Jack backed off, "Have them backtrack and go over what they've found more thoroughly. Later when we get back we can scout a few more levels, but there's no point in turning all the lights on if we aren't going to use them."

"We need to get at least this building surveyed." Carter insisted anxiety creeping into her voice, "The power station is in a sublevel…"

"Carter." Jack interrupted, "This is just a check in, you're in charge, you know what you're doing, just make sure it gets done. We'll check back in six hours, O'Neill out." He clicked off. Carter was trembling. Justin did his best to look busy, operating a control panel that was completely foreign to him. Carter sighed as the gate shut off.

"All clear." Justin advised those below, over the microphone, breaking the silence. The children that had been restrained by their parents, moved back into the main area. They had some kind of ball and were using the Stargate as a goal.

"Fred, Fola, this is Sam." She spoke into her radio, "What are your positions?"

"Team one is on the 98th floor." Fred reported, "We've circled the perimeter, and based on the door labels I would say these are some sort of laboratories. Or lavatories, the Koballan alphabet is a little mixed up. Either these people had a lot of bowel movements, or curiosity, maybe a little of both, so these rooms could be a little unpredictable."

"Leave those doors shut for now." Carter suggested, she was accustomed to gleaning meaning from statements liberally spiced with attempts at humor, from her close association with Jack. "Fola?"

"We are on the 97th floor." Fola replied, "These seem to be administrative offices for some kind of shipping and receiving effort."

"Why don't you come back up and start checking out the living quarters more thoroughly." Carter suggested, "Fred's team can link up with yours, we're going to make those a priority, I want you to go over every room and disable anything that could be dangerous. Put the transport tubes in receiver mode on that floor too, we'll limit the transport options from up here, we can send people down, but I don't want anyone accidently beaming themselves across the city."

"Excellent point." Fred chimed in, "You never know what children could get into pressing the wrong button."

"Children?" Sam blinked, she had been thinking of Jack, "Right, make sure the windows and balcony doors are sealed too, then we can start having people pick out housing." She glanced at Justin, "Do you think we can organize the rest of your people to start transporting supplies down to the kitchen on the 102nd floor?" Justin nodded. Sam let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Great." She said pleased with herself, "Let's start turning this place into a home."

"Amazing." Gianna said as they stepped through the gate.

"I'm new to this myself, but that is not the word I was thinking." Roda remarked she glanced at him, and he elaborated on his word choice, "Disappointing". He clicked on a flashlight. "I'm a little tired of gating from one poorly lit room to the next."

"The differences are subtle and beautiful." Gianna pointed out, "The gateroom on Olympus was somehow ancient, yet advanced beyond comprehension, the temple on Kobol was a reflection of our ancient heritage, this place…"

"Is a very dark cave…" Roda grimaced, he pulled out a life signs detector and switched it on. "According to the probe, we take that passage, and then a left and a right." He started forward, "I guess I'm surprised your people never found this gate, it's not that far from the surface."

"Saggittaron is covered in mountains." Gianna explained, "It is practically famous for it's cave networks, I read once that geologists believe we've only mapped about a quarter of the passages that riddle this planet."

"You know Saggitaron pretty well." Roda observed, sensing a familiarity.

"I took a pilgrimage here once, a long time ago, " Gianna replied, "It was more an archaeological survey of ancient cave drawings, but the religious leaders would only accept travelers on a pilgrimage." Her voice carried a fond smile in the darkness. "That first trip I worked in a very rural community, and I fell in love with them, teaching them, helping them in the fields, learning their way of life, I came back many times."

"A simpler life can nourish the spirit." Said Roda in understanding, he thought of the austere lifestyle at the Jedi temple, medication, exercise and study, "Society can construct distractions for itself that swallow it whole. Left here." He directed, as they came to an intersection. He ignited his lightsaber briefly and scored a notch into the wall. Gianna jammed a glowstick into it.

"That's why I have hope that we will find survivors here." Gianna said, "The cylons exploited more than a weakness in our computers Roda, they exploited a weakness in our souls. The ships, the technology, we were moving far ahead of our hearts. Now that we've lost our technology we are lost as a people, we are vulnerable."

"As your people try to adjust to their new reality, the Cylons pick them off." Roda remarked, "Reeling from shock and awe."

"Fear and loathing." Gianna remarked, "But what our people must rediscover huddled in the darkness, afraid of that which comes, these people have not lost." She saw light glisten off a wall ahead, a corner, "They wouldn't be scavenging for food, or searching for guns, they would be working as a community to survive. They would draw strength from each other's faith instead of bickering about what brought this all upon us."

"Well let us hope we find that community." Said Roda he shaded his eyes as they turned a corner. "Mid afternoon." He commented, "Close enough to Caprica time, we have four hours before we will turn back." He took a breathe and closed his eyes. "We should go that way." He decided, Gianna followed him.

"Son of a bitch." O'Neill muttered as the jumper reached orbit. "Some of the cities are still burning."

"Radiation in those areas is quite high." Teal'c observed, "These people did not give up without a fight."

"Arelon had a pretty hefty defense system for such a poor colony" Brett observed from behind them, "They couldn't afford the newer stuff so they bought up all the old war surplus, whatever they could get their hands on."

"that may have served them well in the defense of their home." Teal'c observed, "Did not Gianna say that the Cylons used your more advanced technology against you?"

"We heard wireless chatter about them hacking the defense mainframe, shutting down battlestars, disabling ships…" Brett sighed, "Doesn't look like their defenses served Arelon at all, they still went down." He gestured to the smoldering world.

"To die defending one's home…" Teal'c said gravely, "It is not ideal, Brett, but neither is it without honor. "

"Probe's got some activity."O'Neill reported, "Some kind of firefight out in one of the deserts. We've got several aerial ships, and some ground troops. Let's check it out." He angled the Jumper, still cloaked, into a dive. It shuddered as he accelerated to full speed.

"We can be detected O'Neill." Teal'c observed, "The friction of the atmosphere…"

"Two of those fighters are changing course to investigate." O'Neill replied. He decelerated the jumper bursting back through the cloud layer. A pair of black, wing shaped craft whined past. "ETA to site five minutes." He continued as though Teal'c hadn't spoken. "Let's do a weapons check on this thing."

"This vessel does not appear to have drones, such as the other Jumper originally had." Teal'c commented, "However it does have directed energy weapons."

"It's an older model, we used to own a hatchback." Jack summarized to Brett, the Colonial stared uncomprehendingly, "The door was on the back, this one's on the side…" he gave up, and continued "But it should still pack a punch, at least the cloak works right?"

Brett was no longer listening, fiddling with the radio Jack had brought, suddenly he got a signal.

"Can anyone hear us? We need help!" The voice shouted, "We're pinned down by a trio of raiders, Centurions advancing towards us, latitude 41 longitude 28, can anyone help us?"

"Who is this?" Brett demanded, "Hold on down there, we're coming to help."

"Thank the Gods, whoever you are, hurry, are you in a ship?" The voice demanded, Jack grabbed the radio.

"You'll know us when you see us." He snapped, "Maintain radio silence until hostilities are ended, copy."

"Yes, yes sir, thank you." Came the relieved reply.

"There!" Brett pointed even as the Jumper isolated a shape flying far beneath them, "Some kind of Cylon raider? They were a single winged aircraft in the first war, not these pincer things but…"

"Whatever it is, it's shooting at people." Jack observed. "Decloaking to fire…"

The Jumper shimmered into view over the Raider, and it's flight pods extended. Several blasts of plasma hurdled out and blew the raider to pieces as it began to turn.

"Something's wrong…" Jack said, "Cloak won't engage with the drive pods out…"

"I am tracking an incoming missile from above." Teal'c warned.

"Crap." O'Neill grumbled, he accelerated the jumper suddenly, leaving the missile to pass in it's wake. It altered it's course and followed but jack angled the jumper down, and then up in a loop coming onto it's tail. Teal'c shot at it, hitting it on the second try and causing it to explode. Jack retracted the engine pods. Below them a lower level of clouds floated like a sea of ice.

"I got a position on that radio transmission." O'Neill commented as a location lit up, "Let's see if we can pull them out before those other two raiders return… holy shit…"

Ahead the serene carpet of clouds was rolling with fire and darkness. Smoke clouds were flashing ominously. Jack brought the stealthed jumper below the final cloud layer, and saw the source of the explosions in the distance.

"They appear entrenched in some sort of fortress." Teal'c observed as a magnified display came up.

"With anti aircraft batteries?" Jack said incredulous, from the castle spewed a firestorm of flack.

"I am reading.. fourteen adults inside." Teal'c reported as a new readout popped up.

"Alright listen up, whoever you are." O'Neill called over the radio, "You're…castle.. is surrounded by Centurions, but we're coming down in a stealth ship from the… direction the sun rises from.. try not to blow us out of the sky while we try to rescue you. Have your people fall back to the middle of the courtyard and prepare for immediate evac.." He turned to Brett. "Listen, we're gonna squeeze them in the back, it's gonna be tight. You need to be there to welcome them, with Teal'c because I'm not letting them come up here, understand?" Brett nodded.

"It's what I'm here for." He stated, he moved into the back compartment and closed the door separating the two.

"Intercom's on Brett, we'll back you up if they give you any trouble." Jack told him. He settled the Jumper into an unoccupied part of the courtyard as he saw men and women gathering in a tense bunch, aiming their weapons up at the walls. "Alright we're down." O'Neill called into the radio, "Look to your left. Teal'c pop the side cargo hatch, give them cover."

The survivors stared openly as a hatch seemed to lower down out of nowhere. A dark skinned man, and a disheveled dark haired man stepped out.

"Hurry!" The smaller man shouted, "Over here, my name is Brett, I'm from Caprica, we're here to help."

"Toaster!" Shouted one of the men turning in alarm as a Centurion pulled itself up over the edge of the wall. There was a crackling, and a ball of plasma shot over their heads blasting the centurion to pieces. The refugees stared as Teal'c took aim with his staff at another Centurion as it pulled itself up.

"MOVE!" Brett shouted racing over to the group and grabbing two off them by their jackets "We've got to move!" Teal'c staff blew another Centurion to pieces. There was a staccato of gun fire as some of the men opened up on a third Centurion, but the others were moving to the Jumper now.

"Who… what?" One of them was asking, Brett recognized him from the radio,

"We're killing Cylons and trying to rescue you, the rest can wait." He shouted grabbing the man and pulling roughly towards the Jumper, "Now get in here before we change our minds." on cue Jack's irate voice sounded from a set in his hand.

"Will you get your asses moving?' the Colonel demanded, "This is no time for a meet and greet!" Brett was shoving them into the Jumper, even as more Centurions appeared over head. Teal'c blasted another and then ducked under the cloaking field raising the hatch."

"I can't move!""I can't breathe!" "Get your hands off of me.."

"Everybody relax and calm down." Brett shouted over the noise, "My name is Brett, I was a security guard at the Caprica museum, we're here to rescue you."

"Security guard? What the hell kind of ship is this?" Someone asked from the side, "What kind of weapon was that, who are you people?"

"We're fighting the Cylons." Brett shouted over the grumbling, "Everyone just hold on, we'll get out when it's safe." The grumbling continued, and Brett shouted, "Everyone please I…"

"Silence." Teal'c thundered, his voice deafening. The cabin was silent save for the uncomfortable shifting of fifteen adults away from one irate Jaffa.

"We found a party of refugees." Roda reported over the radio, "But they don't believe we can offer them any safety. They aren't safe from Cylon patrols, but they are afraid it's a trap."

"Aw for cryin out loud." O'Neill groaned, "Tell them it's out of the frying pan and into the fire if they don't."

"They've agreed to send a delegation to the caves in the morning to investigate our claims." Roda replied unperturbed, "They've invited us to stay the night, if that's okay."

"Absolutely not, you get your bony butt back here." O'Neill ordered. He sat in the cockpit of the jumper before the open Stargate.

"Colonel please." Roda pleaded, "There are a lot of people here, and they're in danger if they don't move, I can't give up on them, just let me keep trying…"

"Anyone you lead to that Stargate better be willing to step through it." O'Neill snapped, "I presume you disabled the…" A crystal suddenly flew out of the gate, falling with a clank. "Alright well at least there's that." He sighed, "Is Gianna staying too?"

"She's willing with your permission." Said Roda.

"I'll tell you what, I'll trade you her, for Teal'c." Said Jack decisively, "I think I need her back here to help organize our first batch of evacuees, she seems pretty good at that."

"So then I can stay?" The voice of a young man, Jedi or no, contained universal hope for approval, and Jack chuckled in spite of himself. Then he caught himself.

"You can stay." He said. "Have Gianna step through the gate, and I'll send Teal'c through in a few minutes." He rose. As he shut down the Jumper's main systems, locking them to his DNA he saw Gianna stepping through the gate. He tapped the controls to open the door side cockpit door which shot to one side instantly, and a startled man who had been kneeling surreptiteously by the keypad beside it, the man dropped his hands to his shoe. A taller man behind him put a casual hand against the ship leaning with a hand in his pocket.

"Ah… er.. I was just…tying my uh.." he stammered, his associate suddenly felt a vice like grip on his 'c loomed over the man and as he drew the man's hand out, the man still held a screw driver. Jack looked pointedly at the scratches in the metal around the key panel while Teal'c, his faces inches from the now sweating Arelonian, removed the screw driver from his hand. Teal'c held the screwdriver up to the man's face, and the man paled considerably. Releasing the man's forearm but leaving him trapped up against the Jumper, Tealc snapped the tool in half and put the surviving pieces in the man's breast pocket.

"Get outta here…" Jack shooed the man and his associate away from the Jumper. Teal'c stepped aside and the skinny man all but bolted over the shorter one. Brett were talking to a group in a semi circle, Gianna was joining them.

"…So the boys and me decided to hole up in Castle Ravenoor." The man was continuing, "Cept we found the heat already there, cept they ain't the heat no more cuz it's us against the toasters, and we let by gons be by gons. The eggheads wandered in a few days later. They wasn't so good at the fighting but they got some of our gear operational again."

"Colonel O'Neill?" Brett said as he approached, "This is Captain Myers formerly of the Paradigm city police force, this is Tate a…er…"

"Career criminal sir, nice to meet you." The man said pulling his felt hat off respectfully and giving Jack a nod, "Thanks for the assist back there, but… where are we?" Jack tried not to stare_. What the hell is the mob doing in space?_ He demanded of any supreme being that was paying attention.

"Well criminal." Said Jack raising an eyebrow, "You see that big ring shaped device?" Tate nodded, "That is called a Stargate. There are several of them sitting around the colonies collecting dust. They can transport a man, or vehicle…" He nodded to the jumper, "Instantaneously across space. Interstellar distances, as my girlfriend might say."

"He's speaking the truth," Said Gianna, "I am Gianna, former senator for Caprica city. There is much we have to tell you." Tate gave her a respectful sounding "Ma'am, and a respectful nod, that doubled to allow his eyes to roam freely over her figure. Her eyes narrowed.

"Ohhhh boy, Gianna, why don't you dial up Sassafrass in the Jumper while I explaina few things to these gentleman." Jack suggested. He put his hand on the door pad to the jumper, and, sensing his genetic makeup, it initialized, sliding open. Gianna stepped inside while Jack continued in a louder voice,

"Starting with, don't bother trying to steal our ship, I'm the only one who can fly it." The edge in Jack's voice said he was serious., "Don't bother trying to use the Stargate, there are billions of combinations you could try if you ever figured out how to dial. Brett can fill you in on who we are, where we are from, and where we are going, if you will excuse me, Teal'c." he pulled the Jaffa towards the gate "Roda's got a hard sell to make, and for some reason he insisted on staying, do you mind babysitting a little?"

"Babysitting?" Teal'c asked dubiously.

"Just stick with the kid until he comes back tomorrow morning." Jack clarified, "They offered to host him for the night. I'm sure they'll have quite a spread."

"A spread?" Teal'c asked, echoing his earlier tone.

"Yeah… alright Teal'c thanks a lot." Said Jack not interested in elaborating at the moment, the Stargate erupted behind him, startling the sordid arrivals. He noted the taller man was leaning against the doorframe of the jumper, making a suggestive gesture with his hand to Gianna as he said something to her. His reply was the door snapping shut in his face, nearly severing the gesturing hand. Jack looked over into the cockpit and could see Gianna rubbing her forehead inside. He watched Teal'c disappear through the gate and turned suddenly finding Tate beside him.

"Woah!" he said, startled "Hey there!"

"Just wanted to let you know me and the boys appreciate the rescue." Tate told him, "We're hoping a few misunderstandings aren't gonna get in the way of us all working together." He grabbed Jack's hands with both arms and began pumping it vigorously. "We're all in this together, you know, I got no beef with squares, just wanted you to know."

"yeah sure, whatever.." Said Jack jerking his arm away, exasperated he looked again at Gianna, and noted she was pointing to her wrist. He glanced down at his watch, and then suddenly realized it was missing. "What the…HEY Tate!" he shouted stalking after the man, "Get back here."

"Hows things on the Colonel's end?" Roda asked as Teal'c arrived through the gate. "he sounded a little tense.

"Fine." Said Teal'c shortly as he proceeded past the Jedi, deeper into the cavern, "He is babysitting."


End file.
